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Fight to rid county of 'fee grabbing' took time, tragedy

Looking back in history, here were some of the happenings in the Cookeville area for the week of Feb. 6-11 as recorded in the pages of the Herald-Citizen

1935

The Cookeville Bar Association has endorsed a bill in Nashville that aims at ending "fee grabbing" by county magistrates, members of county courts who are also known as justices of the peace.

The bill would take away the JPs' power to write warrants and collect fees for them, placing their power to prosecute cases in each county in the hands of the county attorney. That official would be paid a flat salary and would not collect fees for each warrant he writes.

For years now, there have been stories of widespread abuse by JPs accused of writing questionable warrants in order to "grab fees."

The 20 employees of the Cookeville Post Office gathered this week in the TPI Cafe to honor outgoing Postmaster Norman Massa and the incoming one, Thurman Whitson.

Route carrier C.A. Reagan acted as master of ceremonies for the event, presenting Massa with a gold watch from the men who worked for him these last 12 years.

People say the slaying of Judge John Mitchell's nephew this week near Livingston would not have happened had Putnam County created a General Sessions Court like many other Tennessee Counties are doing under a recent state law.

That law seeks to take away JPs' powers to collect fees for writing warrants and would also "rid us of constables and grifters" as well, says the newspaper in a page one editorial.

Mitchell's 19-year-old nephew had been arrested by a rural constable after being involved in a fistfight. The constable was giving the teen a ride home to Livingston when they met the young man's brothers and an argument broke out. In the heat of the disagreement, the constable drew his gun and fired, killing Mitchell's nephew.

The county court here not only recently rejected the idea of creating a General Sessions Court here, but condemned the law that makes it possible.

Taking judicial powers out of hands of the magistrates and rural constables would "save this county not only the lives and unasked for beatings of our citizens but thousand of dollars in graft," the newspaper commented.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt this week took a shot at Tennessee lawmakers for failing to repeal the state's poll tax. She's a strong proponent of voting rights and says charging people to vote is unfair.

She laid the blame on the Legislature's lack of action to Gov. Prentice Coper and Memphis political boss E.H. Crump.

"Many of us had hoped Tennessee would return to popular rule this year. Now the people will have to act through the vote to make sure another time," she said on national radio.

First Baptist Church is leading plans here to participate in the upcoming World Day of Prayer. Special ceremonies like the one planned here will follow the sun around the globe, beginning in the Fiji Islands and closing at St. Lawrence Island off the coast of Alaska. (Feb. 6, 1941)

1946

City School principal Henry Ferrell and City School Supt. Lester King are launching a drive to build a chain ink fence around the playground at the City School.

It lies between the city's two major streets. Spring and Broad, and the chance of a child chasing a ball off the playground into the path of a car is too high, officials say.

They say enclosing the playground would give kids a safe place too.

While the rest of the country is trying to get back to normal now that the war is over, farmers are still under s strain. A page one story this week said they still need to take pains to protect tractor tires. New ones remain scarce.

Farmers here and across the country pushed production levels to all time highs during the war despite shortages in repair parts and materials. They had a massive war machine to feed.

Now, they're being asked to keep it up to help feed millions of refugees in Europe whose countries still lie in shambles.

The newspaper urged farmers here to jack up tractors sitting idle this winter and wrap their tires in old sacks to save the rubber.

A full page ad by the American Iron and Steel Industries was also aimed at farmers this week. It explained that metal repair parts for their farm vehicles may be about to become even more scarce thanks to labor problems.

The steel workers' union, in the interest of the war effort, made few demands on industry officials while the war was on, but now, are pushing hard for pay jumps that factory owners say are extreme.

The ad says that if strikes break out, farmers will have to nurse their tractors along through another spring with few repair parts. (Feb. 7, 1946)

1954

An all-girl cast at Central High is preparing this week to present "Girls Will Be Girls," directed by Betty Webb and Warren Lustre.

W.J. Holladay, a 42-year veteran and former manager of the Southern Continental Telephone Co., died this week in Fayette, Alabama.

He went there five years ago to manage the Alabama Telephone Company. He was the president of the town's chamber of commerce at the time of his death. (Feb. 11, 1954)

1964

The Joe Freeman family of 330 East 8th Street has an unusual pet, a brown squirrel their kids fished out of a friend's swimming pool in August.

The children, Karen, 10, and Kevin, 8, were with a friend, Mary Ester DeBerry when they spotted the half-drowned baby squirrel in the DeBerry pool clinging to a life preserver. It had apparently fallen from its nest in a nearby tree.

The Freeman kids carried it home and began feeding it from a medicine dropper until it got big enough to eat solid foods — fruit and nuts.

They've learned how to keep the frisky pet busy for hours by giving it nuts to hide. Now, they're finding nuts in the toes of shoes, in pants and coat pockets, under the furniture and on top of cabinets.

The parents let the kids keep the squirrel through the winter on one condition — that they set it free this spring. (Feb. 11, 1964)

1974

A nationwide independent truckers' strike is taking a toll here. Long lines are forming at most service stations — except the ones with "No Gas" signs hanging from the pumps — and grocery stores are reporting shortages of bread and milk, among other goods.

So far there have been no reports of violence in Putnam County but several truckers still on the road across the state have been shot at.

But two Livingston truckers had an unusual run-in with the law tis week. They'd collected milk at several area farms and set out with a full tanker of milk for Chattanooga when they were stopped at a truckers' "checkpoint" just south of Livingston.

There, the other drivers convinced them to join them in the strike. They poured hundreds of gallons of milk out on the roadside. Overton Sheriff Terry Mitchell came on the scene and charged the two milk drivers with littering. (Feb. 6, 1974)

1984

A couple of months ago, after admitting they'd held a series of closed-door meetings, members of Cookeville City Council said they'd met because they were concerned that City Manager Ed Kimsey wasn't keeping them fully informed of city projects. But they said the meetings had ironed the problems out.

Today, Kimsey resigned at the request of Mayor Vaughn Howard. The council voted 5-0 to accept the resignation.

Kimsey came here in 1981 after serving for five years as city administrator in Crossville. Previously he'd been a state fire marshall.

Assistant City Manager Luther Mathis has agreed to fill the post until the council names a replacement. (Feb. 7, 1984)